Mutilations in Puerto Rico Source: Samzidat Newletter Banner headlines in red ink proclaimed IS THERE A VAMPIRE IN MOCA?; WHOLESALE UFO SIGHTINGS OVER SAN JUAN; POLICE IN SEARCH OF VAMPIRES. People read them and wondered what in blazes was going on. The tropical calm of Puerto Rico was being shattered by these disquieting signs that something was seriously wrong.
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That was 1976. It might have well been 1992.
Ignored by all but the highly specialized UFO journals and magazines, the UFO flap that was unleashed over Puerto Rico in 1991 and which goes on up to this day, was preceded by a rash of sightings of strange animals and mutilations, reaching as far back as 1989.
The well-publicized 1972-73 flap, immortalized by the UFO flyby captured during the filming of a dawn-to-dusk commercial for a local rum distillery, was characterized by the tremendous number of mutilations that foreshadowed those that would take place on the mainland later on.
The strange experience of Buenaventura Bello is a case in point. This gentleman and his family did not live on an isolated farm in the countryside, but in a suburban location not far away from a major airport and a thriving tourist district. Also, Mr. Bello's livestock were not heads of cattle, but geese.
One morning in 1975, Bello awoke to find his dozen geese dead, scattered across his backyard in a circle. An examination of the dead birds revealed two circular perforations on each animal's body. His call for help produced the arrival of a team of white-suited men with geiger counters, who scanned his backyard with the greatest care, but unwilling to answer any questions. Imagine the man's surprise when a policeman told him
that his family would have to vacate the premises, and that squad
cars would be posted to prevent access down his street.
Puerto Rican ufologist Sebastian Robiou obtained copies of the x-ray analysis performed on the dead geese: the punctures on their bodies intersected within the flesh, destroying their internal organs and bleeding them dry in the process. The "walls" of the puncture marks were apparently cauterized. But that was far from the end of Bello's troubles: government agents advised him that it would be unwise to return to his home, as their "findings" had discovered "something" that could be hazardous to humans.
In a recent issue of ENIGMA magazine, ufologist Jorge Martin recounts a case which occurred four years after the Bello incident. In his article, one Angel Crespo of the city of Arecibo witnessed:"...cattle, cows, all dried up the following morning, no blood, no liquids..." after the nocturnal roamings of polychromatic vehicles, hovering over power cables and leaving a purplish residue on the ground (this detail is reminiscent of the purple blobs described by John Keel in Operation Trojan Horse, and which he considers crucial in the understanding of the phenomenon). Almost two dozen animals were lost in that way.
The residents of the western coast of the island were more inclined to believe that it was the work of practitioners of the Caribbean cult of santeria, which requires the sacrifice of animals, but certainly not cows or pigs. The way in which the carcasses were drained of blood, and the organs purloined, ruled out even the most bizarre cult.
And there were the lights. Spanish parapsychologist Salvador Freixedo, who was in Puerto Rico at the time, heard on the local radio that one such mutilation had taken place in the small town of Moca--two pigs, two geese, a pair of calves and several goats had died mysteriously overnight. He drove to the site and confirmed that the wounds typical to all mutilations were present. The animal's owner was terrified at one salient fact: the lack of blood. The two geese, in spite of the whiteness of their plumage, did not betray a single spot of blood spilled during the extraction process. But the owner, and other farmers who had also suffered losses, recalled seeing lights in the sky the previous evening, describing them as similar to "those on top of a police car". Freixedo later visited a site where a cow had been coldly mutilated and left bloodless. The animal's owner stated that his guard dogs had barked furiously the preceding evening, and that the cattle had been running from one end of the field to another as if eluding capture by something. Freixedo
also makes note of a circumstance that has come to the foreground in Stateside mutilation cases--the dead animals are often found the following morning in places where they could not have possibly reached by themselves (isolated valleys, steep mountainsides, etc.). As a sideline, his research has also included investigation of the numerous reports of human mutilations which have taken place in Mexico.
In 1989, as the first of a new wave of UFO related incidents began to occur, a security guard from the town of Gurabo, in the mountains of the island's central range, captured a "bird" unknown to zoology. The bird was reminiscent of the large unidentified winged creatures seen almost fifteen years earlier, only that it was half the size.
Jos� Gonz�les Rivera was not the only one to capture a specimen: another was captured by a woman named Mar�a Ortiz, and it answered to the same description--two fangs, a serpent-like head,a body smaller than that of a hen, short legs out of proportion with the rest of its body, and talons like those of an eagle. Many described the "vampire bird"--as it was called--as the "ugliest thing they'd seen in their lives." A student from the Colegio Bautista de Caguas, Koraks Santos,
began studying one of the captured specimens, which appeared to be a female. Religious leaders on the island, who have tended to associate UFOs with "diabolic" influences, quickly stated that the bird was the "antichrist". In a moment of not inconsiderable humor, a pentecostal pastor retorted that her religious knowledge was quite thorough enough to know that the "antichrist" was not a bird.
Could these "vampire birds" be the solution to the riddle of the lack of blood which is commonplace in all mutilation cases? Their ability to fly from one victim to the next certainly explains why footprints are never found near the mutilated animals. They do not, however, have the size or ability to shear off the organs and protrusions that are often reported as missing in mutilation cases.
Mutilations in Spain and Latin America, while not quite as numerous as in the U.S., often tend to be equally spectacular or even grislier. Spanish investigator J.J. Ben�tez recounts in his 1990 book La quinta columna ("The Fifth Column") a case which occurred in the community of Ojen: a mechanical being walking on razor-sharp, tube-like "legs" frightened the occupants of a homestead and savagely mutilated a cat. Ben�tez disinterred the carcass to have it analyzed by specialists in Malaga, Seville and Madrid. The verdict of all three labs was the same--"the cat's head and foreleg were separated by a mechanical action...the mutilated area shows signs of scorching through microphotography (x200)." Footprints of a creature thought to
be a wolf, but not corresponding to any known mammal, were also in evidence in the area. As a prelude to this, Spanish radars had
tracked the passage of a colossal UFO over the rural area. Its flight path coincided with the area in which the tube-legged entity was sighted.
As the flap continues--and intensifies--we are almost certain to hear more about these disquieting creatures.
by Scott Corrales
Winter "94"